Greg Schiano raves about Doug Martin's first week of OTAs

The Bucs’ OTAs this week featured a bit of a different look in the backfield.

First-round pick Doug Martin, after nursing a hamstring injury for the past few weeks, finally is participating on a full-speed basis. It was a long-anticipated moment for the coaching staff, and coach Greg Schiano was happy to offer his pleasant first impressions.

“He’s only done it two days (Monday and Tuesday), but he’s done some nice things,” Schiano said. “You can see he has good vision. That’s one of the things you can’t teach. You can teach a lot of things, but for me to see daylight over here when I’m looking over there, that’s a gift.”

No, the Bucs aren’t tackling in their offseason workouts. They’re not even permitted to wear pads. But the vision is something coaches can assess. They’d been waiting since the draft to see Martin make his debut with the full squad.

“It’s good to see him out there,” Schiano said. “You watch all the college tape but we haven’t actually had an opportunity to see him run our offense.”

Martin used his time on the sideline to brush up on his playbook. Now he’s looking forward to running behind an offensive line that looks, at minimum, formidable.

Martin said he is “very confident that with all those great players, we can do some things this year.”

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